Ilim Group Investing Over $580 Million in Modernization Projects at Mills in 2012

"By the fifth anniversary of our joint venture with International Paper this October, we will have fulfilled the investment plans that were given at the time of our JV launch in 2007. – Paul Herbert, CEO, Ilim Group.

Sept. 7, 2012 - Ilim Group is investing this year more than USD 580 million to complete modernizing and expanding their mills. This was announced by Ilim Group CEO Paul Herbert at the media briefing held at the APEC CEO Summit in Vladivostok.

"By the fifth anniversary of our joint venture with International Paper this October, we will have fulfilled the investment plans that were given at the time of our JV launch in 2007. Including the 2012 amounts, the total investment we have made since 2007 will have exceed USD 1.8 billion, which is even larger than we announced five years ago," said Paul Herbert.

The company is currently completing construction of a new world’s largest softwood pulp line in Bratsk, Siberia (investment of approximately USD 800 million), and is building a new paper production line in Koryazhma at a cost of USD 270 million of investments. Both projects will be completed by the end of 2012 and production will start flowing into markets during the first quarter of 2013.

Other major investment projects already completed by the company include a USD250 million investment into latest technology forest equipment which improved efficiency of harvesting, transportation and reforestation operations by 40%; and the construction of a USD 50 million new semi-chemical pulping process which dramatically improved the quality, effectiveness and ecological friendliness of the company containerboard production at Koryazhma.

"Ilim Group continues to demonstrate that it is the Russian forest industry leader and the largest investor in the Russian pulp, packaging and paper industry. Currently our main focus is to successfully complete and start up of our big projects, after that we will start development of our next growth steps, which will include investments focused on building capacity for high quality consumer packaging products for the domestic market, and a second major expansion of our softwood pulping capacity in Siberia to satisfy the growing Chinese and SE Asian demand," Herbert concluded.